The National Geographic Magazine
into the sky. This sight is quite rare. When
it does occur, the interval between explosions
is about 15 minutes.
"Nearly everyone observing Paricutin wants
to know its temperature. We cannot climb
the cone and stick a thermometer into the
crater. However, red-hot lava a mile from
its vent has registered 1,0900 Centigrade
(1,9940 Fahrenheit). Material ejected di
rectly out of the crater cannot be much hotter.
Its temperature may be determined approxi
mately by the optical pyrometer, the instru
ment which the steelmaker uses to determine
the heat of molten metal in his furnace. By
matching the metal's color against a scale on
the filament, he gets the temperature.
A Year-old Volcano Is Aged
"I am frequently asked how long Paricutin
will continue. It is quite impossible to say.
Geologists are surprised that it has erupted
as long as it has. The history of this region
is that of many small volcanoes which evi
dently did not last long. If they built their
cones at the same rate of speed as Paricutin,
they died within a few weeks.
"I am of the opinion that when Paricutin
finally ceases activity, it will never resume.
That was the way of its neighbors.
"Although it is 50 miles from Paricutin,
extinct Jorullo is what we call a companion
volcano. Breaking out in 1759, it lasted only
seven months. It apparently was connected
with Paricutin's reservoir, for their lavas are
the same. Jorullo's record, kept by a priest,
corresponds with events at Paricutin.
"Only five miles from Paricutin is Tanci
taro, a large cone which, strange to say, was
not connected with Paricutin's magma cham
ber. Tancitaro existed in a remote epoch.
"Most everybody understands that fertility
will eventually succeed Paricutin's desolation,
which at present is extending over an area
of some 35 miles' diameter. The principal
reason lava breaks down into such fertile soil
is that it is composed of fresh rock which has
not been leached of its constituents.
For
example, Paricutin's lava contains 8 percent
iron. There is a minor amount of potash.
Fumaroles, the small gas spouts from the
flowing lava, discharge nitrogenous fumes.
Ash Helps Make Good Soil
"Where small amounts of the ash are
plowed under, they prove beneficial almost
immediately. The ash helps to make good
soil, both from the physical and chemical
standpoints.
"Other than the soil, nothing is being en
riched by the volcano. The possibility of
diamonds being created in the intense heat
is, to answer many inquiries, none whatsoever.
Nor is there a useful outpouring of metal
liferous ores.
"Hydrogen sulphide, as well as chlorine, is
given off by the fumaroles, but Paricutin has
not reached the sulphur-making stage.
"The two gases named are, of course, poi
sonous, but not in lethal concentrations.
"So far, Paricutin has not caused any fatali
ties among the human population. An Ameri
can woman visitor was the only casualty. She
received broken ribs when a shed beneath
which she had taken refuge collapsed during
an ash fall.
"This ash is, incidentally, quite cold to the
touch after it has fallen from the chill upper
air. It drifts as far as Mexico City, 200
miles away. The ash is ruinous to a woman's
complexion. After a few days in it, she begins
to look like a coal miner.
"I have been most interested in observing
Paricutin's effect on animal life. Animals
show none of the awe with which men regard
the volcano. The illustrations selected for this
article bear striking witness to domestic ani
mals' indifference. I have seen spiders weav
ing webs in the volcanic ash.
"During Paricutin's earlier days, squirrels
and birds were as common as ever. We ob
served a number of casualties among the
birds; here and there a broken wing or a body
torn by a flying rock. Yet other birds flew
around unconcernedly. Now the seeds on
which they feed have disappeared, and so
they have disappeared, too. Buzzards still
patrol the skies.
"Deer and rabbits migrated when plant life
died. With them went the coyotes.
People Applaud "Greatest Show on Earth"
"In my opinion, Paricutin is the greatest
show on earth. It is, I believe, just as
spectacular as Vesuvius ever was, and in its
more violent phases it is better. When Vesu
vius was making a tremendous display in
1790, a mineralogist had paintings made of
it. These show nothing to compare with
Paricutin.
"You should see Paricutin when gas bubbles
burst in the lava high in the crater. Such an
explosion sends out a fiery umbrella.
"Last June there were spectacular blasts,
and the hills rolled with thunder. Houses and
the ground shook. There was a cascade like
Niagara's. People came from 20 miles away
to see what was going on.
"On August 1 the fireworks became so spec
tacular that spectators burst into applause.
Think of that: people applauding a volcano!"
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